Article dispenser



March 13, 1934. FRIEL 1,951,239

ARTICLE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 29. 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet l (Ki F ZEZ or am,zr-rm wax: u m

March 13, 1934. J. J. FRIEL ARTICLE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 29, 1931 3Sheets-Sheet 2 March 13, 1934. J FR|E| ARTICLE DISPENSER Filed Dec. 29,1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE10 Claims.

This invention relates to the class of dispensers and pertainsparticularly to a machine for dispensing articles of a cylindricalcharacter, particularly bottles of soft drinks.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an articledispenser designed for operation by a coin or slug and in which theweight of the coin or slug operates to release a holder of a singlearticle so as to permit the holder to be shifted for the discharge ofthe contents thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a dispenser of thecharacter described a novel mechanism controlled by a coin or slug forthe release and discharge of a single article.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in a dispenser ofthe character herein set forth, a coin or slug actuated latch which iscontrolled by the weight of the coin or slug inserted to release aholder of a single article and which is sodesigned as to be made todischarge the coin or slug as the article leaves the dispenser, thelatch then resetting itself to prevent the discharge of another articleuntil a second coin or slug is inserted.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel mechanismfor indicating at all times the number of articles remaining in thedispenser.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel means forpreventing the insertion of a coin or slug into the control mechanismafter the last of the articles has been discharged.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings forming part of this specification, with the understanding,however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformitywith the showing of the drawings but may be changed or modified so longas such'changes or modifications mark no material departure from thesalient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the structureembodying the present invention, taken substantially upon the line 1-1of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken upon the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical and longitudinal section through thefront part only of the dispenser showing the position of each of thevarious parts at the moment of the discharge of an article;

Figure 5 is a sectional View taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is an enlarged view in rear elevation of the coin slot closingdevice and means for operating the same, parts adjacent thereto beingbroken away;

Figure '7 is a sectional view taken substantially upon the line 7-7 ofFigure 1; Figure 8 is a view in front elevation of the indicator tool, aportion of the cover glass being broken away;

Figure 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Figure 8. 79

Referring now more particularly to the drawings wherein like numerals ofreference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views, thenumeral 1 indicates the bottom of a cabinet which is indicated generallyby the numeral 2- in which the dispenser mechanism embodying the presentinvention is housed, this cabinet 2 having a front wall 3 upon which apart of the mechanism is mounted and a removable top or cover 4 forgiving access to the mechanism within the housing.

While no means has been illustrated by which bottled goods may be keptcold while in the dispenser, it is, of course, to be understood that thehousing 2 may contain in addition to the mechanism about to bedescribed, any suitable means for keeping the contents of the mechanismcold when this is desirable.

Mounted upon the bottom of one of the receptacles or in any othersuitable manner therein are article carrying trays 5 and 6. In thestructure disclosed, these trays are mounted between uprights '7 and thelower tray 5 is disposed at an inclination so that the forward endthereof will be disposed at a lower elevation than the rear end v5 andthe upper tray is disposed at the opposite inclination so that the rearend, which terminates forwardly of the rear end of the lower tray 5,will be in position to discharge articles onto the rear end of the lowertray as will be readily understood. The rear end of the lower tray 5 hasa guard 8 extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom against whicharticles leaving .the rear end of the upper tray will strike and bywhich they will be guided into the lower tray to gravitate toward theopen forward end thereof. It will, of course, be understood thatalthough only two article carrying trays have been illustrated a largernumber may be employed and in addition it is to be understood that theinvention is not to be confined to the particular means here shown anddescribed for feeding the articles to the discharge mechanism as it willbe apparent that other means may be employed.

At the dicharge end of the bottom tray 5 there are disposed at oppositesides thereof the upright supports 9 between which are disposed areceptacle 10 which is in the form of a semi-cylindrical trough. Theends of this receptacle are closed by the relatively thick disks l1 and12 and the periphery of the disk 12 is provided with a notch 13 which isdirected upwardly when the trough is in upwardly directed position or inposition to receive a bottle orother article from the adjacent tray 5.As shown, the upper ends of the supports 9 are braced by arms 14 whichform continuations of the adjacent sides of the tray 5 and have thetrunnions 15 and 16 which are integral with the disks 12 and 11, engagedin the notches in the ends thereof. These trunnions are mounted in theupper ends of the supports 9 as is clearly shown.

At the end of the trough 10 opposite the notched disk 12 the trunnion 16is extended into the elongated rearwardly and downwardly directed arm17. This arm is in the rearwardly and down wardly directed position asshown in Figure 3, when the trough is in upright position. Secured tothe trunnion 16 are the two fingers 18 and 19 which are oppositelydirected and as shown the finger 19 has one end of a spring 20 attachedthereto, the other end of which is secured to the base 1 of thestructure at a point rearwardly of the trough so as to normally swingthe trough in a clockwise direction.

The swinging movement of the trough is limited by the engagement of thefinger 18 with a stop pin 21 which is mounted upon the adjacent upright9 so that as will be readily apparent when the trough is oscillated in acounter-clockwise direction and released the spring 20 will bring itback to the proper position before the forward end of the tray 5 toreceive an article therefrom, which position has been referred to as theupright position.

Disposed between the uprights 9 beneath the trough 10 is a bar 22 onwhich is pivotally mounted at its rear edge, a plate member 23 whichextends forwardly to a point adjacent the front wall 3 of the casing.This plate is normally raised to the position shown in Figure 1 by aspring member 24 which is in the form of an elongated tongue, the rearend. of which is secured to the bottom 1 of the casing, While theforward end is free and tensioned to spring upwardly and thus raise theplate 23.

At the end of the trough 10 which is closed by the notched disk 12,there is positioned an upwardly and forwardly extending bracket arm 25from which is pivotally suspended by means of the pivot pin 26, a coinoperated latching element which is indicated generally by the numeral27. This latching element is in the form of an elongated body and thepivot pin engages the same at substantially the transverse center andadjacent the top edge.

At the rear end the body is formed to provide the downwardly extendingfinger 28 and adjacent the finger the body is suitably enlarged asindicated at 29 to give sufficient weight to normally cause the fingerto gravitate downwarily into contact with the peripheral edge of thedisk 12 and engage in the notch 13 therein when the trough is in uprightposition, thus hold g h trough against rotation.

At the forward end the body 27 is cut away to form the downwardly andforwardly curving surface 30 which leads into the downwardly curvedtongue-like forward end 31. The forward end of the body 2'. is encasedin a fiat shell 32 which is open at its top and has its side wallspivotally attached adjacent the top, to the upper portion of the body asindicated at 33. These side walls extend upwardly on each side of thecurved surface 30 of the body and thus form a trap for a coin droppedinto the shell through the open top thereof and onto this curvedsurface. ihe wall connecting the forward edges of the shell 32 has anelongated opening 34 formed therein through which the extension 31 ofthe body 27 projects and this forward wall of the shell is extendeddownwardly a substantial distance below the side walls thereof to formthe depending stop finger 35. The downward swinging movement of theshell 32 is limited by a stop pin 36 which is carried by the body 27 asillustrated in Figure 4.

It will be seen upon reference to Figure 4 that the forward part of theshell 32 normally gravitates downwardly untilstopped by the pin 36 andthus the opening 34 between the forward edges of the side walls thereofis reduced so that a coin of the size of a five cent piece when droppedinto the open top of the shell onto the inclined surface 30 will be heldfrom escaping through the forward opening 3 1. However, when the shell32 is oscillated upwardly on its pivot 33 in the manner hereinafter tobe described, the size of the opening 34 will be increased sufficientlyto permit the coin to roll forward on the extension 31 and thus dropaway from the latch body.

While the enlarged portion 29 serves to overbalance the rear end of thelatch body 27 sufficiently to cause the latching finger 28 to engage inthe notch 13, this balance is so adjusted that it will be overcome by acoin of the weight of a five cent piece when the same is deposited onthe inclined surface 30 at the forward end of the latch body, and thusraise the latch finger 28 out of the notch. The operation of thisportion of the mechanism will be hereinafter more fully d scribed.

Formed in the front wall 30f the casing is a coin opening 37 and leadingfrom this opening to a point over the open top of the shell 32 of thelatch mechanism, is a guide 33, the bottom of which is provided with anaperture 39 at the inner end which permits a coin moving therealong todrop through into the shell 32 onto the inclined surface 30 of thelatch.

Extending through the front wall 3 of the casing is an end of anoperatin lever 10 which is pivotaliy supported at a point adj acent itsforward end upon a bracket 11 secured to the inner face of the frontwall. This lever extends inwardly and downwardly across the troughoperating arm 17 and has pivotally attached thereto the body 42 throughwhich is formed an aperture to slidably receive the arm 1'7. t wili thusbe seen that upon disengagement of the finger 23 from the notch of thedisk 12 to release the trough 10, the trough may be oscillated in acounter-clockwise direction by depressing the forward outer end of thelever thus swinging the inner end upwardly and raising in an arcuatepath the arm 17.

' Secured to the rear face of the front wall 3 in a suitable bracketsuch as is indicated by the nu moral a3 is the arm 44 of a bell cranklever which is indicated generally by the numeral 45. The pivotalconnection between the bracket 43 and the arm 4 1 is adjacent the freeend of the arm :be caused to oscillate uponthepivot by which it isconnected with the bracket .43. Thefreeend of the other arm of the bellcrank, which-isnormally directeddownwardly will thus be swung upwardlyin an arcuate path. and this free end carries apin 4'7 which is slidablydisposed in the slot 48 formed in the endof the bar 49 which; isdisposed transversely of the, rear face of the front wall of the casing.

, This bar is pivotally attached at a point substantially midway betweenits ends,.by means of the pin 50, to a supporting bracket 51 and carriesupon its other endv the depending pawl 52. The pawl carrying end 52 ofthe bar 49 rides behind an elongated guide plate 53 in the lower end ofwhich is mounted one endof a shaft 54 which extends forwardly throughthe front wallof. the casingand supports before the front, wall and in asuitably closed housing such as is indicated by the numeral 55, a diskmember 56. The, forward end of this shaft 54 is socketedas indicated at57 to receive a key member by which the disk and associate mechanism maybe rotated.

Between the plate 53-and thefront wall, 3 is a second guideplate 58which is secured to the front wall in spaced relation therewith andwhich has the plate 53 attached thereto and extendingparallel therewithas shown. The shaft 54 passes through thisinner plate. 58 and interposedbetween it and the front wall upon the shaft.54 is a hub 59 which.carries a cam 60. Pivoted to the front wall at the point 61 is one end.offa horizontal arm 62 which extends parallel to the wall and overliesthe hub 59. The lower edge of this arm is formed to provide a cam member63 which is in the path of movement of the cam 60 so that the latterwill raise the arm 62 when the hub 59 is sufficiently rotated. From theother end of this arm 62 there extends upwardly at a slight inclinationfrom the vertical, a second arm 64'which terminates in a laterallydirected finger 65.

This finger is directed toward the coin guide 38 and the sides of the.guide are provided with openings 66 through which the finger may extendwhen the arms are oscillated by the cam 60, and thus close the coinguide to prevent the insertion of a coin thereinto through the opening37.

Mounted upon the shaft 54 between the guide plates 53 and 58, is aratchet wheel 67 which is in position to have one of its teeth engagedby the pawl 52- each time the bar 49 is oscillated by the bell crank 45.A suitable spring member 68 is normally in contact with the toothed edgeof the ratchet wheel to prevent its counter-clockwise rotation.

The lower part of the front wall 3 has an opening 69 therethrough whichis normally closed by the door '70 which is pivotally mounted on thewall as indicated at 71, this door remaining closed by the action ofgravity. Disposed in frontof the opening 69 is a tray '72'which receivesa bottle or other article as it is released by the 'mechanism and passesthrough the door opening.

The plate 23 carries at one side the upwardly extending coin release arm'73 which is. disposed behind the stop finger of the latchmechanism andengages the same in the manner illustrated in Figure '7 as it is swungforwardby the downward swinging movement of the plate.

This coin releasing arm is slightly curved soas to have slidingcontactwith the. stop finger 35 and aswill be readily seen uponreferring to Figure 4,. it operates in the nature of a cam to' swingtheshell 32 upwardly and thus allow the o o. es a e h ref om.

At the end of the trough Iii-adjacent the latch member 2'7 there isthreadably attached to, a suitablesupport such as the arm '75, amovement limiting screw 7 6 for the latch 2'7.v As will be seen thisscrew when properly adjustedpermits the fingerca frying end of the latchto, swing upwardly only a sufficient distance to clear the periphery .ofthe disk 12.

In. the. operation of the. present article dispenserthe articles, as forexample, bottles of soft drink, are arranged upon the supply trays 5 and6 in the manner shown in Figure 1 and one thereof is disposedin thetroughlll. The indicator disk 56. is then rotated by means of a suitablekey. inserted in the socket 57 to bring the numeral 24 beneath thepointer '74 to thus indicate the presence in the dispenser oftwenty-four bottles, or other articles. It will, of. course, beunderstood that if the dispenser is designed to hold more orlessarticles the indicator disk will be gravitated accordingly.

Upon the insertion of a suitable coin or slug into the opening 37 thesame will gravitate downwardly and draw into the shell 32 and be retained thereby upon the curved surface 30 of the latchbody 2'7.

As previously explained the latch body is so balanced that the coin willthen cause it to oscillate uponits pivot 26 and raise the finger 28 fromthe notch 13. The trough 10 is then free tobe oscillated inacounter-clockwise direction or toward the front of the dispenser andthis oscillation is caused by the depression of the outer end of thelever. and the raising of the arm 1'7 in the manner previouslydescribed. When the trough is oscillated the article therein will bedumped out upon the plate 23 which will be depressed by the weightof-the article so as to incline downwardly and forwardly toward theopening 69 through which the article will run into the receptacle, 72.Upon the depression of the plate the arm '73 will raise the coinretaining shell 32 and allow the coin to roll off of the end of thelatch through the opening 34 so that when the plate 23 is returned toits raised position by the spring 24 the latch will oscillate back toits former position of contact with. the notched disk, 12 so that whenthe trough is returned to its position by the spring 20 the finger willengage in the notch 13 and thus hold the trough against further movementuntil another coin is inserted.

When the lever 40 is depressed for the oscillation of the trough lOthebar 49 will be caused to oscillate so that the pawl 52 carried therebywill engage one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 6'7 and thus turn thesame and the disk 56 to bring the disk into a position to indicatetherejection of the number of articles in the dispenser by one.

As the last article is discharged from the receptacle the cam will bemoved into position beneath the cam 63 by the turning of the ratchetwheel andthus oscillate the arm 64 to move the end thereof into theaperture 66 and thus close the coin opening.

The ratchet wheel 6'? will have a greater number of teeth by one thanthe number of articles indicated upon the disk 56 and where the machineisdesigned to carry twenty-f our articles when the pawl 52 engages thetwenty-fifth tooth the cam 60- will. be brought to raise under and inengagement with the cam 63 so. as tomainluxc tain the finger in theposition previously described. The disk 56 will then be moved so thatthe pointer '74 will indicate an intermediate position between one andtwenty-four and thus when the machine is again filled it will be setready for operation by turning the disk one point or to the point 24,which movement of the disk will shift the cam 60 beyond the cam 63 andthus uncover the coin opening.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. In an article dispenser, an article carrier, means for receiving asingle article from the carrier, an operating element for effecting thedischarge of the article from said means, a balanced latch normallyacting to prevent the operation of said means by said element butreleasing the said means when unbalanced by the deposit thereon of anelement of the proper weight, and means actuated by the article as it isdischarged from the dispenser for effecting the removal of said lastelement from the latch.

2. An article dispenser, comprising means for carrying a plurality ofarticles from which the same move by gravity, an oscillatable troughmember arranged adjacent the carrier and designed to receive a singlearticle, said trough having a circular end member provided with a notchin its edge, a latch element comprising an elongated body pivotallysuspended intermediate its ends and having a finger upon one endnormally engaging in said notch, said latch member having its other endformed to receive a coin by the weight of which it is oscillated toremove the finger from the notch, shiftable means normally maintainingsaid coin on the latch member, means for rotating said trough for thedischarge of an article therefrom, and means operated by the articleupon its discharge from the trough for moving said coin retaining meansto permit its escape from the pivoted member.

3. An article dispenser comprising an article carrier from which thearticles are discharged by gravity, a rotatably mounted receiveradjacent said carrier and designed to receive a single articletherefrom, an oscillatably mounted latch element having a finger andweighted to normally cause said finger to swing downwardly forengagement with 'a portion of said receiver to prevent the turning ofthe same, means forming a part of said latch element and arranged uponthe opposite side of the pivot point thereof from said finger to receivea disk element, said latch element being oscillated by the weight of thedisk to disengage said finger from the receiver, said last meansincluding an oscillatable element which normally retains the disk inposition but releases the same upon being shifted to one position, alever element for oscillating said receiver, and a pivoted memberarranged to have an article discharge thereon from the receiver andadapted to be depressed by the article, said pivoted member operating toshift the pivoted el ment of the coin receiving means to release thecoin therefrom.

4. In an article dispenser of the character described, a casing having afront wall provided with'an outlet opening, a carrier within the casingdesigned to receive a number of articles from which the same aredischarged by gravity, a trough member oscillatably mounted before saidcarrier to receive articles singly therefrom, means for oscillating saidtrough member, a plate pivotally mounted before said trough and normallysubstantially horizontally disposed in a plane above said outletopening, said plate being depressed by the discharge of an article fromthe trough thereonto from which the article gravitates to the opening,and latching means normally maintaining said trough against rotation andadapted to release the trough upon the application of a suitable elementthereto.

5. In an article dispenser of the character described, a casing having afront wall provided with an outlet opening, a carrier within the casingdesigned to receive a number of articles from which the same aredischarged by gravity, a trough member oscillatably mounted before saidcarrier to receive articles singly therefrom, means for oscillating saidtrough member, a plate pivotally mounted before said trough and normallysubstantially, horizontally disposed in a plane above said outletopening, said plate being depressed by the discharge of an article fromthe trough thereonto from which the article gravitates to the opening, apivotally mounted latch element normally preventing the oscillation ofthe trough, means forming a part of the latch element for receiving asuitable element by the weight of which the latch is oscillated torelease he trough, and a member carried by said plate operating to freethe said suitable member from the latch element when the plate isdepressed by the deposit of an article thereon.

6. In an article dispenser, an article carrier having a discharge end,an oscillatable trough disposed adjacent said discharge end to receive asingle article therefrom, an oscillatable balanced latch having afinger, means connected with the trough and engaged by saidfinger tonormally retain the trough against oscillation, said latch having a coinreceiving recess and being unbalanced by the deposit of a coin in therecess to disengage the finger from said means, a movable elementcarried by the latch to retain the coin in the recess, means foroscillating the trough to discharge an article therefrom, and meansoperating with the discharge of the article from the trough to shift themovable element to discharge the coin from the recess. 1

'7. An article dispenser, comprising a casing having an outlet opening,an article carrier within the casing having a discharge end, anoscillatable receiver at the discharge end of the carrier to receive anarticle therefrom, latch means normally retaining the receiver againstoscillation, means for inserting a coin into the casing,

said latch being designed to be actuated by an inserted coin to releasethe receiver, an oscillatable element normally guarding the outlet ofthe cabinet and adapted to be oscillated to a discharge position by anarticle deposited thereon from the receiver to permit the escape of thearticle through the outlet, and means operating with the discharge of anarticle from the receiver to reset said latch into receiver holdingposition.

8. An article dispenser, comprising a casing having an outlet opening,an article carrier within the casing having a discharge end, anoscillataible receiver at the discharge end of the carrier to receive anarticle therefrom, an oscillatably mounted balanced latch, a fingercarried by the latch, means forming a part of said receiver forengagement by said finger to retain the receiver against oscillation,said latch having a coin receiving recess therein and being overbalancedby a coin deposited in the recess to disengage the finger from saidmeans, means for directing a coin into the recess, an element pivotallymounted upon the latch to retain a coin in the recess, a

plate member pivotally mounted at an elevation below the receiver andnormally resiliently retained in a position to guard the outlet openingof the casing, said plate member being designed to receive an articledischarged from the receiver and to be swung downwardly thereby topermit the article to pass through the outlet opening, and means carriedby the plate member whereby upon the downward movement of the latter thepivoted member carried by the latch will be shifted for the release ofthe coin from the latch recess to permit the latch finger to reengagethe first mentioned means.

9. A dispenser for cylindrical bodies, comprising a casing having anoutlet opening, a pair of oppositely inclined troughs in the casing inwhich the cylindrical articles are placed, the upper one of said troughsdischarging at its lower end into the upper end of the underlyingtrough, an oscillatable receiver trough disposed transversely of thelower end of the lower one of the first troughs, an elongated latchmember pivotally mounted intermediate its ends and having a finger atone end normally engaging and holding said trough against oscillation,said latch member at its other end being formed to provide a coinreceiving recess, an oscillatable element onto which the articles aredischarged from the oscillatable trough,

means for oscillating the oscillatable trough, means for inserting acoin into the latch recess whereby the latch will be overbalanced torelease the finger from the trough, and means operating upon theshifting of the oscillatable member by the deposit of an article thereonfrom the oscillatable trough to release the coin from the latch recess,the said oscillatable member when shifted by an article thereonoperating to direct the article to the discharge opening.

10. In an article dispenser, a casing having an outlet opening, anarticle carrier within the casing having a discharge end, means operableto discharge articles singly from the carrier toward said outletopening, co-in released means normally holding said last means againstoperation, said coin released means being designed to retain a coinuntil a single article has been discharged toward the outlet opening, anoscillatable guard plate resiliently held in a position between theoutlet opening and the article discharging means and oscillated by thedischarge of an article thereonto to permit the article to gravitatetoward the outlet opening, and a finger carried by said .plate operatingto effect the release of the coin from the latch mechanism when theplate is depressed by the weight of an article thereon.

JOHN J. FRIEL.

